A typical vacuum cleaner creates a partial vacuum by rotating an impeller in its body and entraining air. The vacuum cleaner includes a flexible hose connected to its body to provide a passage for air and dust from select areas. Particularly, an upright-type vacuum cleaner, which is one variant type of vacuum cleaners, generally has a hose at an air inlet at the rear portion of the body which is connected to an auxiliary brush to conveniently clean crevices such as stairs or corners of the room.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an example of the upright-type vacuum cleaner with a hose for the auxiliary suction brush at the rear end of the body. FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a hose lock apparatus for vacuum cleaners according to the conventional art for locking the hose to the air inlet of the vacuum cleaner body.
The hose lock apparatus 10 for conventional vacuum cleaners includes a hose clamp 12 locked at an end of a hose 3, a clamp holder 14 secured at the vacuum cleaner body 1, and a clamp connector 16 fixing the hose clamp 12 to prevent separation from the clamp holder 14. The hose clamp 12 is configured in the form of an angular pipe of 90 degrees and includes the hose 3 locked at an end. The other end of the hose clamp 12 is inserted in the clamp holder 14, configured to connect to the air inlet provided at the vacuum cleaner body, and has a locking means to lock the clamp connector 16 at the outer side.
The clamp holder 14 includes a hole 15 in the middle to receive the other end of the hose clamp 12, and two locking holes around the hole 15. The clamp holder 14 is attached to the vacuum cleaner body 1 by connecting two screws 18 through two locking holes. The clamp connector 16 locks the hose clamp 12 to prevent separation from the clamp holder 14, and is locked at the hose clamp 12 by the lock apparatus at the other end of the hose clamp 12.
The process for attaching the hose lock apparatus 10 with the above construction to the vacuum cleaner body 1 is described below.
First, the hose 3 is engaged to one end of the hose clamp 12. The clamp holder 14 is inserted into the other end of the hose clamp 12, and the clamp connecter 16 is fitted over the other end of the hose clamp 12, thereby locking the clamp holder 14 in the hose clamp 12. The clamp holder 14 is attached to the vacuum cleaner body 1 by inserting two screws 18 into the locking hole of the clamp holder 14, and inserting the other end of the hose clamp 12 into the air inlet provided at the vacuum cleaner body 1. Since the hose clamp 12 is locked in an end of the hose 3 and is not separable from the clamp holder 14, the hose 3 can be securely locked with the air vacuum cleaner body 1. Furthermore, a cleaning work using hose 3 can be done through the hose 3 connected in the air inlet of the vacuum cleaner body 1 by the hose clamp 12.
As described above, a conventional air vacuum cleaner cleans with the hose 3 by attaching the hose 3 to the vacuum cleaner body 1 via the hose lock apparatus 10.
Since the hose lock apparatus 10 requires a user to lock the clamp holder 14 in the hose clamp 12, and securing the clamp holder 14 with two screws 18 to the air vacuum cleaner body 1, it is inconvenient for the user to assemble the hose 3 to the air vacuum cleaner body 1. In addition, when the hose 3 is blocked by foreign substances, the two screws 18 must be unscrewed, the clamp holder 14 has to be disassembled, and the hose 3 is separated from the vacuum cleaner body 1 to remove the foreign substances from the hose 3. Thus, it is inconvenient to remove the foreign substances. Particularly, production cost of the hose lock apparatus for vacuum cleaners according to the conventional art is relatively high because the hose lock apparatus requires three discrete parts 12, 14 and 16.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.